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PES insists on women’s right to choose on eve of International Women’s Da

07/03/2014

Tomorrow, 8 March 2014, we celebrate International Women’s Day.
On this occasion, PES Vice-President Elena Valenciano has denounced that "within the EU borders, a very high number of women are raped, beaten, murdered and subjected to psychological torture. Combating violence against women will be one of the key issues of this campaign for the European elections as it is one of the worst problems of European society.”

Tomorrow, 8 March 2014, we celebrate International Women’s Day.

On this occasion, PES Vice-President Elena Valenciano has denounced that "within the EU borders, a very high number of women are raped, beaten, murdered and subjected to psychological torture. Combating violence against women will be one of the key issues of this campaign for the European elections as it is one of the worst problems of European society.”

The defence of women’s freedom, especially the fight for sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) is another priority for PSOE leading candidate to European Parliament, Valenciano. “While we celebrate International Women’s Day, Spanish women are not yet ready to rejoice. The Conservative Government in Spain wants to take us back over 30 years by reforming the abortion law - taking away women’s agency, freedom and dignity.

The head of the Spanish Conservative Government, Mariano Rajoy, has been meeting today with other right-wing leaders at the European People’s Party Congress in Dublin. “While the PES has committed to make women’s rights a central part of its European election campaign, no such signal has been forthcoming from the EPP.” Added Valenciano.

“Even though Europe is leading in gender equality, we are still too far from where we should be.”Says Zita Gurmai, PES Women President. “It’s incredibly frustrating when European Conservative Governments turn back the clock and strip away rights that women have gained over the years, as they have in Spain. On International Women’s Day we need to offer women everywhere our solidarity and defend their right to choose.”

Women play a central role in the PES European election campaign in 2014. At our Election Congress in Rome on 27 February PES Women organized a successful Flash Mob to highlight the fight for women’s economic rights, and PES common candidate Martin Schulz addressed the PES Women Annual Conference and pledged his strong support.

PES President Sergei Stanishev promised the backing of the whole party for the campaign to defend SRHR, “Women’s rights are human rights, and the PES defends them fiercely. Our party members stand side by side in this campaign against outdated Conservative values.”